helicopter rescues. we'll be bringing you some of those pictures throughout the hour. the u.s. military has more than 6,000 troops taking part in these efforts, and texas and louisiana with more on the way. this is the scene on the ground in beaumont, texas. we'll show thaw in a few moments. take a listen. all right. we'll bring thaw in a moment. flooding there has knocked out the city's water supply, which forced evacuations you see here. these are going to be flying out all morning long. these are patients, we'll show you the video in a few moments, moved out of a baptist hospital in beaumont in houston. crewing are prepared to go house to house. there are the pictures there. trying to find more people stranded by the storm. you're looking at boat right there making its way across sugarland, texas, earlier today. not far away a new mandatory evacuation orders in place. some because of rising floodwaters. others to keep people from trying to get back to their

verve stated neighborhoods. understandably, trying to get back before it's safe and authorities are warning them not to do that. a few moments ago, we point out, vice president mike pence land and the ground in texas. there you see him in corpus christi being greeted by the governor, greg abbott of texas. that happened in the last hour. the vice president landed to meet with state and local officials to talk about the rescues and recoveries. we'll see the pictures of the vice president all day long and with him, energy secretary rick perry, former governor of texas and other officials. now fema officials and houston firefighters are going door-to-door. we mentioned that a few minutes ago. brian todd has been there throughout the storm and with one of those crews right now. the weather is a lot better but still have to go house to house, brian. isn't that right? making sure people are okay? >> reporter: that's right, jim. we're still in the emergency response phase of the storm even though the sun sout and its 90-some degrees. wee walk with this team of firefighters going door to door

to check if people are still there, if they're missing. asking neighbors, what's become of their neighbors? and just checking all around. sometimes if they have a doorknob on the front door and no one answers they bang on windows. on occasion go around to the back. what they want to do is make sure that everyone in every house is accounted for and contender it in a data base. all the neighborhoods and houses that they've combaled through. we'll walk along with these guys as they go in -- this is a neighborhood hit pretty bad by the storm the other day. just in an adjacent neighborhood. one of the commanders told me, jim, that they've got -- a lot of these people in these neighborhoods lived through these storms before. kind of know what whthey're doi. the problem they think they can ride this out and a lot stay in place because they've been through these storms before. they haven't been hit by one like this. you see the marks on the houses up to your waist and immense damage. this was a neighborhood somewhat

damaged. debris is up there on the street. people asked what people are doing today, clearing a lot of it out. you know, the death toll, the injury tolls, gives you a sense how they might not have any sense of this yet. house to house, not getting a lot of response in the houses. it's impossible to tell who may be staying with relatives, injured, missing. this is a way they'll comb all through that, jim. >> brian todd walking us through the difficult and exhausting work going house to house to check on people. many homes are unoccupied. we're hoping when they find people that they're okay. brian todd, thank you very much. many areas of texas of still flooded. port arthur and beaumont, completely under water. look at port arthur texas. you can see officials there, authorities there, going door to

door and many neighbors still underwater and in beaumont, there's no clean drinking water adding to problems there. people who can make it out to the roads are lining up to get bottled water and brian rokus is live in organize texas. i see the water behind you there. it appears cars are moving along there. i suppose that's some progress. what are you seeing? >> reporter: jim, here on the eastern bored of the texas near louisiana is very much on the edge now. unlike where brian was in houston. neighborhoods accustomed to flooding, folks here in orange have never seen this volume of water flood their streets and they're not out of the woods yet because a dam has been released just ever the louisiana border designed to release pressure on some bodies of water's. the unintended is this particular area could see moreflooding over the next 24

hours. folks herer really concerned. they don't know what will happen next. the possibility of a mandatory evacuation is still in the offing. i talked to one knapp was forced out of their home. we've talked to officials that said a mandatory evacuation, even suggested, has not taken place yet but emergency operation center is keeping a close eye on all that. where we are now. this intersection, you mentioned, jim, would have been water here. we were here last night and a lot of that water receded and as you mentioned, there's an ability here for at least big trucks to get through. now with my photographer david brooks, i'll walk you back around this way. this is a staging area in this part of orange. this supermarket in the distance closed now more than 24 hours, but it's been essentially an island of dry land since the flooding began around 1:00 in the morning two days ago. so what has been happening, an army, a flotilla of boats, largely volunteers from texas,

louisiana. seen boats from as far away as wisconsin have come leer to thes spot and just dropped people off. it was a good thing. the problem that became was that they were in a situation where there were so many people being rescued, but nowhere to take them. late here last night there were literally hundreds of people lined up at this supermarket looking for pa place to go. it around 11:00 local time we saw about ten different school buses come. round up all of the people and take them back to lake charles, where shelters are now. that process is continuing. still seeing people dropped off here and a gentleman from new orleans, attempting to get to houston. making lunch, offering it for free for anyone who could come. this is as far as he got because of how much damp and flooding there is in the east part of texas. this recovery will take a long time and, again, i cannot stress enough, people here in orange are by no means out of the

woods. the next 24 to 48 hours could be very important. we could still see many more homes flooded and many more people evacuated. jim? >> at that shopping center serving as a makeshut station. and the county sheriff, includes beaumont and port arthur. that's the situation sheriff? what can you tell us? >> well, you know, in some areas the water is receding. we still have a lot of people that we are still -- going to rescue. other good news, a lot of help, and the military and other areas, volunteers. so the collaborative effort especially for the old people, elderly, getting them out of their home is rourking. but we're still in this mode. >> what are you finding going

into these neighborhoods? are you finding many heeded the warnings got out of the -- is it a situation you have to track people down or finding many people stay? >> i mean, our situation is a little different. we've didn't have evacuation here. our -- issues were the flood. after -- you know, three or four days of rain, you know, we received lots of water in a quick amount of time. so, you know -- and the bayous and some of these reservoirs, once they had to open up it rushes the amount of water, no one could predict that. a huge amount of water in a quick amount of time. and we predicted the flood but never seen anything like this. lived here 52 years and have never seen anything like this. we're trying to get people to higher ground, safer ground. the city of beaumont right now

doesn't have water. so that presents an additional problem for our county. you know? so, again, that's what most first responders and people who assessed damage in their homes, now trying to save lives. >> and sheriff, how devastates is your area? is your jurisdiction. you said you've never seen anything like this in your lifetime. politicians will be baaing in washington to figure how much aid these parts of texas needs. what is your message to the politicians in washington who are going to have to come to your aid here in the coming months and even years? >> well, you know, certainly it's devastating. you know? and i understand -- i think when you consider what's happened in houston, we watched that unfold. you know? and just a few miles away, a few days, you're safer and happy here. i was, i would implore, first of

aural, our politicians to understand the resources needed to get gak to the basic necessities of life. right now we don't have water. many areas here. for simple things. you know? and so we are still dealing with people who have medical issues here. so for sure, you know, again, basic human survival. talking water and food. we were -- because of highways being shut, that presents problems. again, i'm not a politician. i'm a sheriff and my job is to go out there and protect and serve our community. that's what my employees have been doing since -- even in, you know, when they were leaving the outhouse. it's important for people to understand it's back. we were expecting help that we can get to our area. >> sheriff stephens from jefferson county, texas. sheriff, thank you so much for

your time. appreciate it. all our best to you, your fellow first responders and all the folks down in your area. thank you very much. >> i want to show you incredible video of cnn's own anderson cooper aboard a coast guard helicopter as it conducted rescues over beaumont, texas. we know the coast guard already rescued 6,000 people since the storm hit. take a listen to this. watch this. [ sound of a helicopter ] >> incredible pictures you can see of a woman just hoisted up, in that apparatus there, and being seated alongside another gentleman and woman there with their dogs. you can just tell. i mean, just put yourself in the minds of those people right there, how incredibly difficult

that must be to go through, but just one glimpse how people are doing in that part of beaumont, texas. dramatic video taking place with our anderson cooper. we'll get back to some of that throughout this hour. first, dire warnings from another part of texas. get out or die. that was one official's message to residents in tyler county, texas. we'll ask about that stark warning, and how his community is doing when we come back. first, every day heroes at work. a group of military veterans from the dallas-ft. worth area spent the past few days roving through flooded parts of point armer looking for people in need of being rescued. among countless volunteers answering the call during this difficult time. we'll be right back.

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aerial view of flood damage. what did you see? >> reporter: spending a couple days around the addicks area and to see it from the ground is one thing. from the air, completely another. the sweep of devastation, particularly around the area of addicks reservoir is just incredible. you know, they're predicting that some 27 trillion gallons of water, rainwater, fell on texas and louisiana, and from the air over that part of west houston, you can certainly see it. houses still buried in water. up to their roof lines. the entire area looks more like a swamp land than a park, like it usually is. the levees for both the barker and the, and the addicks. it's not clear from the ground what it looks like. when in the air you can see levees that are miles and miles long. ones alongside the i-10 freeway.

the other perpendicular to it and spillways for these levees are very, very small, but you can see them pumping out the water. tens of thousands of gallons a second, and it will take weeks and weeks if nots months to get the water level down to where they can get into the neighborhoods and figure how bad damage is and for families to figure out what is left. it is going to take -- it is one thing to talk about how difficult it's going to be for them to deal with the aftermath of this, to see it from the air and just the blocks and blocks and blocks of neighborhoods and the amount of water that is in there, it is an appreciation for ow difficult the job is ahead for this city. jim? >> and miguel, thank you. i want to head now to the area near the texas/louisiana state line. talked about that a little, a while ago. and one count think, tyler county, ordered everyone to

evacuate yesterday writing in a very grim facebook post. show you this pap quote from it, anyone who chooses no the to heed this directive cannot afford to be rescued and should write their social security numbers on their arms so their bodies can be identified. it does not get more dire than that before editing, the post ended with the words, quoting here "get out or die." the post was written by tyler county judge jacques blanchett who joins me now. judge, you clearly wanted to get people's attention with this. how did it work out? do you think it was effective? >> extremely effective, jim. and these are friends, neighbors. these are people that live close to the -- they live along the river. close to the flooding and accustomed to relief out of the dam, the hagan lake. the information that we had access to that was being communicated to us by the corps

of engineers was dire. we had to capture enough information for those residents living along that naches river to understand what we were processing. these folks are resilient, have lived through storms before. they stay, they've weathered five and six feet. their sahr vive eurvivors. they did not have the knowledge of what was communicated to us at 3:00 from the corps of engineers. we had to capture it in such a way to where they would be able to understand the seriousness of how this was going to impact them. 2 was goi it was going to be a historic flooding event along that river and those specific areas we identified. not the entire county. strictly along that naches river

that encompassed five areas we typically advise people to get out in time's past. sometimes they've heeded it, other times not. after about a 20-minute discussion with a former sergeant a local jp service officer now, myself, assistant coordinator, dispatcher from the sheriff department, fielding calls from residents in the area, and one of the county commissioners and myself, we agonized exactly how we needed to word what we needed to say to them so they would get the message. jim, at dark last night, the last eight were brought on to dry -- not dry ground but brought out of the water area there. the sheriff's department, the game warden, other volunteers were there with their boats and they were bringing these last eight out.

jim, what was the right thing to say, the right thing to do? i'm responsible for those lives, and one of the statements that we discussed during that 20-minute period of time was, two weeks from now, are we going to ask ourselves, did we do all that we could do, or are we seeing funeral services having been conducted for these neighbors, these friends, these residents of this county? >> judge, i guess part of the issue is that -- you have law enforcement, first responders, who are putting their lives on the line. i suppose part of it is, if rime not mistaken, if you have residents refusing to leave their homes, leave their areas, they could, in fact, be putting first responders lives on the line? >> and that was the very tone we wanted them to understand. that the seriousness of the loss of life. do not expect rescues to be provided for you whenever we had issued a mandatory evacuation

order in all the low-lying flood-prone areas in the county. that was several days ago. and then the event we had yesterday with the amount of water that impacted us, it was as serious for us as what y'all had been covering as well for the other major news sources on what's going on south of us. this water is epic. it's unprecedented. >> judge -- >> historic. >> unbelievable. judge, we have to cut you off, judge blanchette. sorry. appreciate your time very much. i want to point out live pictures coming in right now. vice president pence there. you can see him greeting people in rockport, texas. those are the pictures on your screen right now. you're seeing a devastated building there. the camera panning over and zooming in and you see the vice president there talking to residents there. patting folks on the shoulder there. this is sort of that firsthand

account that politicians tend to want to get when they get on the ground and in flood-ravaged and storm-ravaged areas. you see the vice president and karen pence, the second lady, vice president's wife, also looking at this devastation holding hands there with governor abbott right there behind them. just to give you a sense as to the scope of all of this. that is a building right in front of the vice president. he couldn't get any closer to some of these devastated areas. he's right snack dab in the middle of it. some of what the president presumably will see saturday when he also tours some of these storm-damaged areas. looks like in a few minutes we might hear from the vice president. you can see congressman farenthold next to the vice president there. appears to be a gathering of

officials there. so we may see the vice president speak here in a few moments as these residents, these local officials, state officials, along with the vice president and his wife are taking a look at what happened in that part of texas. let's listen in a little bit. >> -- remember, jesus himself was in the storm. he was in a boat and his disciples got in with him and the bible says a storm came up suddenly, and it was so violent that the fishermen who knew the sea, felt they were going to sink. all of a sudden it dawned on them, jesus was in the boat. >> amen. >> they go and wake him up and say, lord, don't you care that we're about to perish? he says, ye of little faith. and he stood up and rebuked the wind and waves and they became instantly calm. they marveled so much.

who is this has the power over the wind and rain. you've gone through a storm. let me tell you this -- is the lord jesus christ, he's still here. [ cheers and applause ] he's not going to forsake you and we're thrilled the governor is here today and the vice president of the united states and his wife karen. i'm just going to offer a little word of prayer before we turn it over to the governor. okay? let's pray. heavenly father, we thank you that you love us. we thank you that you sent yo son from heaven to take our sins. and father, we pray for this community, we pray for all the residents of this church, the other churches, and, lord, we pray that the recovery will come quickly and that you will bring an army of volunteers from across the country to come help them to rebuild, and, father, we thank you today for the governor and for the vice president that they would come and see for themselves this situation, and so, father, we ask that you would bring calm to this community and that they would see that at the end, this community will be stronger and

better than ever. and, father, we pray this in jesus' name. am amen. >> all: amen! [ applause ] >> we all know one thing and that is, there is no storm as tough as the people of texas. we will rise again and we will rebuild this great town and the affected areas across the entire state of texas. but as we gather today here at this church, it's important that we remember that the greatest power that exists is the power of god. and the way that god can touch and move all of our lives, it was god, so many texans came to the rescue of other texans. the power of god able to pull people out of the water and literally save them. and as a result of that, i think

it's very important that i issue and sign in texas, a proclamation here today. by the power vested in me as governor of the state of texas, i am declaring this sunday september 3rd as a day of prayer in texas. [ cheers and applause ] this is the day where we will pray for all of those who are affected. we will pray for the first responders. for those who have volunteered to help others. we will pray regardless of what faith or church or background you may have. we will pray as one united people. for the future of the state, and the future of this country. for healing and for hope. for rebuilding and for the next great generation of texas. if you don't mind, i'm going to

have the first lady of texas hold this microphone as i sign this official proclamation. [ applause ] >> with us here today, a longtime friend of mine and a longtime friend of texas. he's a man who understands what it means to govern having been a former governor himself. he's a man who has shown genuine lord-empowered leadership. the vice president of the united states. i want to introduce to you a man who is committed to ensuring along with the president that

texas will rebuild. ladies and gentlemen, welcome to texas the vice president of the united states of america, mike pence. >> thank you so much, governor. thank you for the inspiring team here at first baptist church. thank you all for coming out. after difficult days here in rockport and across southeast texas, president trump sent us here to say, we are with you. the american people are with you. we are here today. we will be here tomorrow, and we will be here every day until this city and this state and this region rebuilds bigger and better than ever before.

i also want to pay a debt of gratitude to all of those that have, that have stepped forward and shown their work in this dark hour. the life of this community and the life of this state. at the president said yesterday in missouri, your governor and his team have done an incredible job for the people of texas, and we commend you, mr. governor, we commend the state officials. we commend the extraordinary first responders who at this very hour are pulling citizens out of harm's way. would you join me in thanking this great governor and the state of texas, and [ inaudible ] [ applause ] we're also grateful, grateful to be joined by many members of the cabinet of this administration. president trump sent us here to ensure that the full resources of the national government are being brought to bear in a

consistent way. through the course of this rescue operation, which is still under way, and the recovery that will follow and the rebuilding that we will see through. i'm grateful to be joined by these great members of the cabinet who are with us here today. and lastly, let me also say thank you, say thank you to those of you who have, in a difficult hour for you and your family, come alongside neighbors and friends. those that are looking on now maybe from around the state and around the country who have already given of their resources, and their prayers to support the people of rockport and the people across southeast texas. as franklin graham just said, it's a long way to go. it's not months but it's years. the challenges will be great. but we know that the generosity and the prayers and the faith of the people of texas and the american people will be greater still.

i called the president from air force two this morning and asked him what he wanted me to tell you, and he just said, just tell them we love texas. you've inspired the nation. we've inspired -- you've inspired the nation by your rye zell je resilience and courage, and i dime reassure you we'll be leer. we're one family. when one hurts, we all hurt. on behalf of the president, on behalf of the this governor and all of us who have the privilege of public responsibilities, just know we are with you, and we will stay with you until rockport and all of southeast texas comes back.

thank you very much. i'm joined by my wife karen, the second lady of the united states, who -- [ applause ] -- agreed to offer a quick word of prayer and so those of you that are so inclined, join us, would you. karen? >> heavenly father, we thank you for these amazing people who are an inspiration to us. all across the united states and across the world. we pray that you would build them up, give them the strength and the endurance as they go forward. we thank you for the first responders and those who at this very moment are saving lives. we pray for their safety and a blessing on them. we thank you for -- every level of help that's here. it's such an inspiration to see so many who have given so much

and so selflessly come alongside their neighbors. so we thank you for this. we know that your word says where two are more are gathered there you are. so we know you're here with blessing on the state of louisiana and texas and as they go through hard days going forward. we know you will lift us up. in your name we pray. amen. >> all: amen. >> thank you, all. >> an honor to be with you, mr. governor. thank you so very much. thank you to the ministry here that knows that unless the lord builds the house the builders labor in vain. >> amen. >> we're here today, president trump will be back in texas with the first lady on saturday. and we promise you we're going to stay with you every step until we bring southeast texas back bigger and better than ever. thank you very much. thanks.

watched -- just watched vice president mike pence there touring a storm-damaged area in rockport, texas, wrapping up remarks there at a damaged church, along with the secretary lady, the vice president's wife karen pence and you saw led that group of people in prayer. we'll coming bafrck after a qui break. we'll be right back. data n get unlimd and live tv. the channels you love. your favorite shows and movies. making your iphone into more of a... oh my tv is ringing. hey...i'm in the middle of a...a second iphone from at&t? okay! right now when you buy a new iphone 7 from at&t you'll get a second iphone 7 on us. and power both with unlimited data and live tv. wheyou wantve somto protect it.e, at legalzoom, our network of attorneys can help you every step of the way. with an estate plan including wills or a living trust

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okay. you're looking at live pictures now of vice president mike pence on a tour of rockport, texas. you can hear there in that video, a pretty stirring image of people singing "god bless america." ♪ god bless america >> let's listen in. ♪ my home sweet home [ applause ] >> all right.

>> pretty, some remarkable images. a few moments ago people singing "god bless america" as vice president pence and his wife karen shaking hands with people actually impacted by harvey. you're seeing pictures live right now on cnn. just a few moments ago you heard the vice president talk to those people there in rockport, text, right outside of a damaged church. the vice president passing on a message. he says he received from president trump. telling the people down there that he loves texas, and he'll be there in the state with the first lady on saturday. we'll continue to monitor those pictures as they come in and bring more to you as it all warrants. for now, let's turn to, back to houston. thousands of evacuees at the

brown convention center, the days after harvey, thousands of people coming and going since the storm while trying to assess damage down their own homes as people wait for floodwaters to recede to sassess the damage at their homes. and scott, as you're speaking, we'll show live pictures of vice president pence, but how are people holding up there today? i know sometimes it can be raw with some of those evacuees in that shelter there. >> reporter: absolutely, jim. there is some good news here, that the number of evacuees staying at the shelter is dropping. around 9 now, at its peak. it is now around 2,500, and the reason being, a lot of people are finding shelter with family or friends. or going to hotels or motels. according to the shelter manager, they're also going back into their flooded homes. the problem, obviously, that when a house has been flooding you'll have problems with mold and potentially even

contamination. it's really not safe. so the shelter manager is predicting that a lot of those people will end up back here making those numbers inflate once again. there's also a lot of people here who are lining up for fema relief. to get information and to get registered. the last numbers we have are that 90,000 people registered with fema. already given out around $57 million worth of relief to people. i met one gentleman in that line. his name is matt whitmore. he was actually moving between one apartment to another just outside of houston when harvey hit and he ended up driving a truck packed full of all of his things into some water, and where it got stranded, and so he's lost essentially all of his worldly possessions. but in that line for fema he was not looking for replacements to be replaced by government money. he just wanted contact lenses or some glasses, and a few clothes to put on while he was getting

back on his feet. i asked why he didn't want help replacing his things. >> ah, you have seen other people here four days ago? >> i just happen to come inside of a mcdonald's and see that. and i didn't even have -- thousands. so these people that have, you know, multiple families, four, five, six. disabled handicapped, you name it. they're going to need a lot more than -- me. so -- i'm still young enough where i can rebuild. take advantage of the resources that are here and the way houston pulled together, there's, you know -- the opportunity. >> reporter: whitmore expects to be out of shelter and on his feet in a week or so. this place will be open a lot longer than that. fema is helping in temporary

assistance, hotels, motels, maybe an apartment a couple months. but given how many homes in this city have been flooded out, the expectation a lot of those people, even receiving assistance, will have to find temporary shelter even outside of the city because of the demand. >> scott mclean in houston, thank you. i'm joined by the former hud secretary of housing and urban development and the former san antonio mayor who joins us live from san antonio i believe. secretary castro, thanks very much for joining us. what do you make -- >> thank you. >> you saw those, or at least maybe heard in the last several minutes vice president pence there on the ground in texas. very visibly shaking hands with some storm victim there's. what is your assessment so far of how the white house, how the administration has handled things from where you sit down in texas? >> well, number one, i'd say that the most impressive thing

that we have seen over the last few days has been neighbors helping neighbors. the various inspirational stories of folks whether in houston, rockport, beaumont, throughout southeast texas that helped each other. the image that sticks in my head is the highway covered with water and instead of cars you saw boats on that highway. but i also credit the men and women, civilian and military, who are first responders, who i think have done an admirable job of rescues folks, of trying to ensure that people are safe. i know just an hour or so ago y'all had with anderson a live shot of folks being rescued in beaumont, i believe. i would separate that out from the political response from especially president trump. you know, i'm glad to see that vice president pence is in rockport. he has experience with this. having been governor of indiana. he's handled natural disasters.

he also knows that there's a human touch to this. that for the president, you need to do two things. make sure that the federal government is deploying all of its assets as it should and coordinating with state and local government to get the job done of rescue and recovery, but also you need to be the consoling in chief and we've seen now on several occasions where there's this or charlottesville, that president trump just cannot find it within himself to be centered around others. to about true public servant. it's always about him. so i think the mistake he made the other day with showing up and talking about the size of the crowd there for him, not mentioning any of the victims that passed away because of the storm, and then saying that he had seen it all firsthand when he clearly hasn't. so i'm glad that vice president pence is there, because i think he's doing a little better job in that role. >> and do you think that the

president's visit this weekend will be helpful or harmful? what do you hope to see? i suppose from what you're saying you want to see him shaking hands and meeting with storm victims? >> yes. people need to feel like he understands the depth of the tragedy and the pain, and more than that, that he's going to stick to this and make sure t t that, that the administration pushes a well-funded bill through congress to get folks the resources they need for recovery. that's going to be many billions of dollars. so -- whether or not his trip to texas makes sense on saturday is really going to depend whether he approaches it in a better way than he did last time. i was going to say about a year ago when i was hud secretary i was out in baton rouge, louisiana looking at the damage from flooding there. i can't say enough about the professionalism of the folks

that whether it's in sda or hud or fema. there have been a ton of lessons learned since katrina, and those front-line workers oftentimes there are different places in the united states and they scramble their own lives so they can go and man those command centers and respond the way they need to, and all of that is just beginning. this is just the beginning as many have said of a years' recovery process. we need the president and an administration to stick to that secretary, let me ask you, because all of this week we've seen a lot of texas republicans, members of congress, being asked about their votes against funding to help people after super storm sandy in the northeast, and that has been injected into this debate over funding to help people after harvey. what is your message, your brother is a member of congress. used to be the hud secretary. you know about all of this

firsthand. what is your message as politicians come back to washington? can they get their act together and get that money into texas despite some of the bad blood that might exist between people on all sides, because of those votes against that sandy funding five years ago? >> you know, i saw both congressman king and governor christie talking about what senator cruz had done a few years ago with the sandy recovery bill. that was unfortunate. and it's true that ted cruz today is being a hypocrite. it's not true that that bill, the sandy bill, was mostly full of pork. in fact, the congressional research service said the opposite. they said that the bill actually stayed true to the purpose of sandy recovery. so, they need to put politics aside, though, this time. you know, that's the past. that was addressed. there were funds that were dedicated to sandy recovery. at hud, we helped administer some of those funds so i know that that has been money that

has been well spent. hasn't been without its issues, just like our experience with katrina, but now it's important, whether you're from texas or new york to put the politics aside and make sure that there are sufficient funds that are part of this bill because this is the worst natural disaster that we've seen, maybe ever. >> all right, secretary castro, hopefully they will put politics aside. that is a tall order these days here in washington, but we appreciate your time very much. thank you. >> thank you. amid all the devastation, a small act of kindness shines through. someone dressed up as spider-man to cheer up all the children now living in one of the shelters in houston and when you look at those little faces, you can see how much it meant to those kids. kids still have to be kids in all of this, and for more information on how you can help the victims of harvey, please log on to cnn.com/impact. it will make a difference in the lives of that little guy right there and many others. we'll be right back.

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the rains may have stopped in most of southeast texas but the disaster is far from over and communities along the brazos river like in richmond, texas, the river is topping levels that were very difficult to deal with last year when flooding destroyed hundreds of homes. polo sandoval is live in richmond, texas, right now. you can see the flooding behind you and it looks like it may get worse than this. is that right? >> reporter: especially the coming hours when you should be able to add at least one more foot of water here. the army corps of engineers saying that in houston, some of the water levels in the reservoirs are going down but if you take a 30-minute drive west here to richmond, texas, this is what you'll see. this is the swollen brazos river that we have been showing you

over the last few days and as authorities and residents have been expecting, it's overfilled its banks and now slowly invading neighborhoods. if this isn't enough to give you an idea of the flooding that people are still dealing with, take a look from the air. you can see there widespread devastation, widespread flooding. i have spoken to several people here in this neighborhood, jim. many people telling me that they are barely recovering from a similar flooding event that took place in may of 2016. one gentleman, whose house i visited, the house still smells like fresh paint and again today there's water that is damaging that house. so it's really a lot of the people who have very little, usually, lose the most. >> absolutely. and it does not look like it's going to get anywhere near normal any time soon. polo, sthauch fthank you very m that. our special coverage continues, the aftermath of harvey right the aftermath of harvey right after this. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

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hi is there, i'm brooke baldwin and you're watching cnn special live coverage of hurricane harvey's catastrophic aftermath. get out or die, that is the warning from one southeast texas county telling residents that the loss of life and property is a certainty. right now, dozens of communities in texas and louisiana are under water. neighborhoods turned into sea scapes. we did just see the krvice president, mike pence, down there, he is touring a storm